Off the Endz

Tonight I saw a brilliant play at The Royal Court Theatre called "Off the Endz".  It told the story of two friends, Kojo and David, who both grew up in London's equivalent of the projects, known as the Endz.  Both of them desparately want to get out, but are going different routes in their effort.  David has turned to a life of drugs and crime, whereas Kojo is trying to make it in the world by getting a job and working his way up.

The play had a lot of really important things to say about perpetuating racial stereotypes, in a way that I had not seen written by a black playwright before.  Bola Agbaje really nailed it, from my perspective.

The acting was generally fabulous, the set was cool (blacklight!) and the part with the cartoon at the beginning was just hilarious.

The only thing that I found distracting was a lot of inappropriate laughter from the audience.  People were laughing at things that were not only decidedly NOT funny, but very serious.  And it really messed with my head.  Photos from the Royal Court Theatre website.